Jessica
Top 1000
About Jessica
When Jennifer finally gave up her Number 1 place on the girls' popularity list, her crown was passed to Jessica, who reigned for not one but two decades. Jessica was the Number 1 name in both the mid-1980s and 1990s, never sounding quite as trendy as its predecessor, maybe because of its classic Shakespearean pedigree.
Jessica fell out of the Top 10 in 2001 and has been heading straight downhill ever since, though she still ranks in the middle of the Top 1000. Our guess is that a lot of new moms who loved the name Jessica growing up are now giving it to their daughters, though it's far from a fashionable choice.
Jessica seems to have been coined in this form by Shakespeare for the character of Shylock's daughter in The Merchant of Venice, possibly as an Anglicization of the biblical name Iscah. There are several attractive Jessicas on the scene today, including Jessica Lange, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jessica Simpson, and Jessica Chastain.
Many Jessicas, grownup as well as newborn, are called Jessie or Jess, which freshens up the name as one of the stylish boyish nicknames for girls. Other variations in use include Jessi, Jessy, Jesse, Jessa, and Jesslyn.
Pronounced JES-i-kuh.
As of October 2026, Jessica ranked #665 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #1 in 1985, Nameberry popularity #325.
Editor's take: The name Jessica is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "behold or wealthy".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #179 | 1,802 | 1,008.8 |
| 2015 | #206 | 1,591 | 891.3 |
| 2016 | #231 | 1,392 | 785.5 |
| 2017 | #246 | 1,291 | 747.8 |
| 2018 | #312 | 1,066 | 626.7 |
| 2019 | #331 | 969 | 577.3 |
| 2020 | #399 | 779 | 481.9 |
| 2021 | #477 | 656 | 399.8 |
| 2022 | #508 | 620 | 378 |
| 2023 | #550 | 550 | 342.8 |
| 2024 | #574 | 526 | 324.7 |
| 2025 | #665 | 424 | 263.8 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Jessica.
- Nicole
- Danielle
- Jennifer
- Michelle
- Megan
- Stephanie
- Sara
- Amanda
- Becca
- Ashley
- Allison
- Tiffany
- Kimberly
- Angela
- Melissa
- Christina
- Samantha
- Katie
- Brittany
- Courtney
Jessica on lists
Famous Jessicas
- Jessica Marie Alba
American actress
- Jessica Claire Biel
American actress
- Jessica Michelle Chastain
American actress
- Jessica Danielle Andrews
American singer/songwriter
- Jessica Karen Szohr
American actress
- Jessica Louise Origliasso
American singer
- Jessica Ann Simpson
American singer
- Jessica Alice Tandy
English,American actress
- Jessica Phyllis Lange
American actress
- Jessica Brooke Capshaw
American actress
- Jessica Hilda Mauboy
Australian pop singer
- Jessica Elizabeth Sanchez
American pop singer
- Jessica Leigh Stroup
American actress
- Jessica Louise "Jesy" Nelson
singer of British girl group Little Mix
- Jessica Ennis
Hill, English Olympic heptathlete
- Jessica Olie
CEO of This is Olie
- Sarah Jessica Parker
American actress
- Jessica Pimentel
American actress
- Jessica Grace Hanson
sister of the Hanson brothers
- Jessica Leccia
American actress
- Jessica Rose Brown
Findlay, English actress
- Jessica Sue Davis
American actress; twin brother Jesse Davis
- Jessica Lily "Jessie" Bridges
daughter of actor Jeff Bridges
- Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes
daughter of novelist J.K. Rowling
- Jessica Suzanne Lowndes
American actress
- Jessica Jung
Korean,American singer, actress, businesswoman and former member of South Korean girl group Girls' Generation
- Jessica Sula
Welsh actress starring in ABC Family's "Recovery Road"
- Jessica Mitford
English author
- Jessica Jean (Schafer) Skube
American family vlogger known as "Jesssfam"
- Jessica "Settie" Gee
American YouTuber of The Bucket List Family
- Jessica Jane Willis
first child in family band The Willis Clan
- Jessica "Jess" Stout aka Aphmau
American YouTuber
- Jessica Ott
Best Friend of YouTuber Jordan Frye
- Jessica "Jess" Bauer Conte
YouTuber
- Jessica Wesson
(born 1982) retired American Actress
- Jessica Marie McDonald
American soccer player
Jessica in pop culture
- Jessica Jones
main character on Marvel's show of the same name
- Jessica Drew aka Spiderwoman
character in Marvel comics
- Jessica
character in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice"
- Jessica Fletcher
main character on TV's "Murder, She Wrote"
- Jessica Rabbit
character in movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
- Jessica Moore
character on TV's "Supernatural"
- Jessica Darling
main character in the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty
- Jessica Goldman
character in Kenneth Lonergan's "This Is Our Youth"
- Jessica "Jess" Day
main character on TV's "New Girl"
- Jessica "Jessie" Prescott
character on TV's "Jessie"
- Jessica Glitter
character on TV's "How I Met Your Mother"
- Jessica "Jessi" Ramsay
character in the "Baby,Sitters Club" series
- Jessica Sherawat
character in video game "Resident Evil: Revelations"
- Jessica Daunt
character in "Tiburon" (1935) by Kylie Tennant
- Jessica "Jess" Delaney
character in the "Mother,Daughter Book Club" series by Heather Vogel Frederick
- Jessica Wakefield
character in the "Sweet Valley High" book series
- Jessica Ellis
character on TV's "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody," twin sister Janice Ellis
- Jessica Hamby
character on TV's "True Blood"
- Jessica Lourdes Pearson
character on TV's "Suits"
- Jessica Davis
character in "Thirteen Reasons Why"
- Amelia "Amy " Jessica Pond
character on TV's "Doctor Who"
- Jessica "Jess
" character on TV's "Misfits"
- Jessica DiLaurentis
Alison Dilaurentis' mother in "Pretty Little Liars"
- Jessica "Jess"
character in video game "Until Dawn"
- Jessica Danforth
character on TV's "Arrow"
- Jessica Alkirk
from Lunar the Silver Star and its remakes
- Jessica Albert
character in video game 'Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King'
- Jessica Riley
character in film "Crazy, Stupid, Love"
- Jessica
character in "Rick and Morty"
- "Jessica
" song by the Allman Brothers
- "Jessica
" song by Regina Spektor
- "Let's Scare Jessica to Death
" 1971 horror movie
- Jessica Cruz
(aka Green Lantern), character in the DC Universe
- Jessica Lovejoy
a minor one,shot character from "The Simpsons"
- Jessica Hunter
one of Mackenzie Hollister’s best friends and antagonist of “Dork Diaries”.
- Jessica Olson
main character in movie "Starstruck"
- Jessica Martin
main character in movie "How the West Was Fun"
- Jessica "Jess" Sathers
character in series "The OC"
- Jessica
character in series "Malcolm in the Middle"
- Jessica Ashley
character in series "Friends"
- Jessica Wright
main character in movie "Thanksgiving"
- Jessica Lockwood
Minor character in Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co. series
- Jessica Lockhart
fictional character in series “Friends”